The police investigation which solved a brutal murder in Bath after 30 years has been recognised with an international award for its use of DNA technology.

Melanie Road was just 17 when she was sexually assaulted and stabbed to death after a night out in the city in 1984.

Her killer, Christopher Hampton, escaped justice for 30 years but was eventually traced thanks to a DNA breakthrough.

A minor crime led to one of Hampton's daughters being added to the criminal DNA database - which flagged up a match with a full DNA profile the police had of Melanie's murderer.

Article continues below timeline

Time Line

The murder of Melanie Road - a timeline

Night out - Friday, June 8, 1984

Melanie Road, 17, went on a night out with friends at the Beau Nash nightclub in Kingston Road, Bath.

The street no longer exists because of the SouthGate development.

Walk home - 1.30am - Saturday, June 9, 1984

This is when Melanie was last seen with friends in Broad Street. She refused the offer of a taxi and decided to walk back to her home in St Stephen’s Close, in Lansdown, a journey which should have taken between 15 and 20 minutes.

She never made it home.

Murder - 5.30am - Saturday, June 9, 1984

Melanie's body was found at 5.30am by a milkman and his ten-year-old son close to a block of garages in nearby St Stephen’s Court – just yards from her home. She had been sexually assaulted and stabbed 26 times.

When her body was discovered it apparently lay in a pool of blood.

A 30 metre long blood trail led from St Stephen's Road to where the body was found.

DNA hope - April, 2014

Almost 30 years after Melanie's murder, detectives investigating the cold case revealed they now had a full DNA profile of her killer.

In 2014 police identified 130 men who were "of interest" to the original police hunt for a killer.

In 1984 police collated 13,000 index cards listing the details of people who were in Bath on the night of the murder.

This allowed police 30 years later to go back and check the DNA profile against these people.

Saliva swabs were taken from people across the country to rule them out.

Retired detectives return - June, 2014

The Bath Chronicle reported on three retired detectives - Dave Hitchings, Paul Hughes and Hamish Galloway - coming out of retirement to help the reinvigorated hunt for the killer.

All three men worked on the original investigation in 1984.

'Melanie's death haunts me' - June, 2014

Susie Lecomber, Melanie's best friend at school, spoke out about how her death still haunted her.

She said: "We were young, we were silly and foolish and we liked doing silly things like making up dance routines to Michael Jackson together. We laughed a lot and giggled a lot.

"She was one of those people who was kind, caring but had confidence.

"It took 25 years to talk about Mel without shaking and my teeth chattering.”

Susie had been given hope by the DNA profile which had given new life to the police search for Melanie's murderer.

She said in 2014: "It appears that we have got one big last chance to sort this out. I would desperately like to be able to stop thinking about her death and think more about when she was alive and the friendship we had.”

Man arrested - July 3, 2015

A 63 year-old Bristol man, Christopher John Hampton, was arrested on suspicion of murder. He was charged the next day.

Hampton appears in court - July 9, 2015

Hampton appeared at Bristol Crown Court via video link from prison in Winchester.

Wait for trial - September, 2015

A trial date of May 9, 2016, was set.

Not guilty plea - December, 2015

Hampton formally entered a not guilty plea.

Surprise plea change and life sentence - May, 2016

On May 9, 2016, Hampton appeared in court before what was expected to be the start of a trial by jury.

But the father of four, of Fishponds, Bristol, shocked the courtroom when he uttered the word “guilty” to one count of murder without a trace of emotion.

He remained impassive throughout the rest of the hearing, despite heart-rending statements from Melanie’s mother Jean Road, her sister Karen Road and brother Adrian.

Hampton was later sentenced to life imprisonment and told at the time he must spend a minimum of 22 years behind bars, minus the more than 300 days he had already spent in custody.

On sentencing him, Mr Justice Popplewell told Hampton: "Only you know precisely how you approached her and carried out your attack, but certain things are plain from the evidence.

“It was a lengthy and brutal attack for your own sexual gratification. She was repeatedly stabbed, 26 times in all.”

How necklace proved to be final clue - May, 2016

In the end, it was a necklace broken by his daughter that was the undoing of Christopher Hampton.

He had kept his terrible crime a secret for more than 30 years until his daughter’s involvement in a minor domestic dispute led police to his door.

Police had had a full genetic profile of Melanie’s killer since the mid 1990s, when DNA profiling became available, but swabbing of thousands of potential suspects and several reviews of a national DNA database had failed to find a match.

That all changed when the daughter of Hampton’s first marriage had a DNA swab taken by police after she’d broken her boyfriend’s necklace during a petty argument in 2014.

Police found the swab threw up a "familial" match with the profile they had of Melanie's killer.

Family's heartbreak - May 2016

The 81-year-old mother of murdered Bath teenager Melanie Road has expressed her hurt that a Bath man was responsible for her daughter’s death – because the teenager loved the place so much.

In an emotional interview, Jean Road (pictured) said it “hurts beyond repair” to know that it was a Bathonian who brutally killed her 17-year-old daughter in the city she had felt so at home in.

Bath-born Christopher John Hampton, 63, was sentenced to life imprisonment for Melanie’s murder this week.

Raised in Bath, he was 32 at the time of the murder and living in Broad Street, less than a mile from the Roads’ home in Lansdown.

“She was loved by everybody and she loved Bath,” Mrs Road said. “She really fitted in well with everything that she did in Bath.”

DNA award for police - May 4, 2018

The below Press Association report highlights how police have been recognised for the DNA breakthrough in the case:

United Kingdom Murder Case Selected As 2018 DNA Hit Of The Year

Gordon Thomas Honeywell Governmental Affairs (GTH-GA) has announced that the Melanie Road murder case investigated by the Avon and Somerset Constabulary (United Kingdom) was selected as the 2018 DNA Hit of the Year.

The case was selected from 61 cases submitted from 14 countries. It was chosen by a panel of seven international judges with career backgrounds in forensic DNA.

The recognition was announced during the annual Human Identification Solutions (HIDS) Conference held in Rome, Italy.

Judges selected the United Kingdom case from six finalists.

The five runner-up cases were from Montenegro, China and three from the United States.

Avon Somerset Chief Constable Andy Marsh said: "Solving the murder of Melanie Road has meant so much not just to Melanie's family, but to the wider community as well as the policing community.

"In the end it was the advancements in forensic DNA technology as well as the determination, commitment and hard work of our officers that solved the case."

"Being selected as the 2018 Hit of the Year is a great honor and a reminder of the power of DNA databases to bring justice to victims and their families.

"It is also a testament to the professionalism of all who have worked on the investigation over the years."

This week Avon and Somerset Constabulary's investigation into Melanie Road's death was selected as 'DNA hit of the year' at the Human Identification Solutions conference held in Rome, Italy.

Judges selected the case from six finalists - the five runner-up cases were from Montenegro, China and three from the United States.

Avon Somerset Chief Constable Andy Marsh said: "Solving the murder of Melanie Road has meant so much not just to Melanie's family, but to the wider community as well as the policing community.

"In the end it was the advancements in forensic DNA technology as well as the determination, commitment and hard work of our officers that solved the case."

He added that the DNA award was a great honour for the Somerset force.

He said: "Being selected as the 2018 Hit of the Year is a great honour and a reminder of the power of DNA databases to bring justice to victims and their families.

"It is also a testament to the professionalism of all who have worked on the investigation over the years."

Want news straight to your phone?

For Somerset as a whole:Somerset Live runs a WhatsApp group to help you keep up to date with the latest news from across the county. If you'd like to receive breaking news alerts, text NEWS to 07834 893492, then add the number to your phone contacts book as 'Somerset Live’. We will send you a maximum of four messages a day. Your phone number won't be shared with other members of the group or be used for any other purpose.

For Bath:Save the number 07939 497390 to your phone - we recommend saving the contact as 'Bath Live News' - then send the word NEWS to us via WhatsApp.